Companies like this become bigger than their founders.

And I'm sure many on the Left would argue that Tesla and SpaceX would be healthier companies without Elon Musk.

Although I tend to differ on that, having owned $TSLA for a long time. Never bet against Elon!

> Dear Chris,

> We’re writing to let you know that we reviewed your report (ID 579240969280369002).

> Here's what we found

> We decided not to take this ad down. We found that the ad doesn’t go against Google’s policies, which prohibit certain content and practices that we believe to be harmful to users and the overall online ecosystem.

I think the safest thing I can do right now is avoid using Google for searches and instead use Claude, which at least has functioning safeguards, and is less easily poisoned than Google Search.

I am so frustrated at Google, not just for this incident, but for many reasons (like their inexplicable shutdown of my own Adsense account years ago, and their neglect of several products I'd built against or bought). When they act, they leave us with no recourse. I feel anxious being dependent on them, even for simple stuff like my email account.

They are sufficiently big that they no longer care about the little guy anymore. They are only interested in swallowing up all the World's data and cashing in on Workspace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzJCly4YgDQ

The Age of Empires clone (and the difference in graphics quality/creativity between Opus and Fable) is at the end of the video and I was blown away.

Notice how this guy prompts the models. Very detailed, with technical requirements and steering. He's going for a one-shot build and he nailed it.

I think what happens is a legitimate business with a history of legit Google advertising gets compromised by malware, and then their Google adverts are flipped.

Claude found evidence of an exfiltration malware on my laptop and I inmediately wiped the device and started again. Revoked all my keys, rotated all my passwords. And now I pray the damage is contained.

I can’t believe that Google would have let this slip through. I probably wasn't the only one that got caught out.

I want BYD to compete with Tesla, each having distinct stacks. I want Ford to differ from GM.

The pace of EV innovation since the 2010s came from companies like Tesla breaking the mold and doing things differently from legacy auto, sometimes with stubbornness and audacity that caused the media to shame them, and claim they’d be bankrupt within weeks.

IMO we need that sense of urgency and existentialism injected back into the industry. We need EVs to be exciting if people are to be inspired to make the switch. With one or two exceptions (eg charging standards), the last thing we need is the imposition of supranational standards, regulations and homogenisation that brings innovation to a grinding halt and leaves all carmakers with a lowest-common-denominator generic solution

The non-disclosure clauses in mass surveillance legislation will ensure the process is opaque to users.

You’ll only find out about it when your door is smashed down and all your devices are seized, because Chrome’s crappy 4GB AI model misinterpreted an innocent photo of your kid in a paddling pool.

Sadly you're right. At times like this I wish Silicon Valley was in Texas or Florida rather than one of the most leftwing / collectivist states in America.

As for ergonomic differences, I see sliding phones, folding phones, big phones, small phones, minimal phones, phones covered in buttons.

One or two exceptions - Project Hail Mary, for example.

But the decline of Marvel, Star Trek and Star Wars franchises has been stark.

https://www.youtube.com/@TheCriticalDrinker has some great commentary on the problem.

Also, a number of other factors:

    * massive TVs are cheap now
    * people behave disrespectfully in cinemas
    * cinema tickets are now unaffordable for the low end of the market
    * the experience hasn't modernised and become luxy enough to retain the high end of the market
    * streaming services have high budgets now

    * Samsung Electronics
    * Apple
    * Xiaomi
    * Oppo (includes OnePlus)
    * Vivo
    * Huawei
    * Honor
    * Motorola Mobility
    * realme
    * Google
    * Sony
    * Nokia
    * Asus
    * Nothing
    * HTC
    * ZTE
    * Fairphone
    * LG Electronics

If I want a thicker, clunkier, less waterproof phone with a user-replaceable battery, I can already buy a Fairphone or a Samsung Galaxy XCover6 Pro, or whatever.

The reason people buy iPhones and flagship Samsung phones is they want the benefits that come from a design that doesn't have to make sacrifices to accomodate a user-replaceable battery.

The surveillance state is growing more sinister every day (especially in the UK), but the efforts are somewhat thwarted by the existence of VPNs.

Once they find a way to undermine VPNs, the UK govt will have literal CCP-level control over our access to information and communication.

People don’t use social media in the same way they did ten years ago.

And in any case, they’re still getting massive viewership on X by most people’s standards, surely?

I’m not convinced “X is declining” is a good faith argument here.

Turns out the quality of things like self hosted spam filtering is no match for the world’s most notorious data ingestion and analysis company

I'd rather use Google's web storage than my own. I don't have the time nor the expertise to implement multi-region replication etc.

I understand that granting Google access to one's emails might be a dealbreaker for journalists, dissidents etc, though - so clearly Gmail is no good if you have legitimate need for PGP.